Gourmet Movie Theaters Will Save the Industry

There's a new(ish) trend happening, guys! At movie theaters. Soon gone will be the days of stale popcorn with chemical butter sauce and watery Diet Coke. Instead we'll be feasting upon croquettes and deviled eggs. Movie theaters are getting fancy.

The idea of better-than-average food and table service at a movie theater isn't exactly new. Theaters around the country have been doing it for a while now. But now that the trend has hit New York City, both the creator and the destroyer of any real trend, it's worth writing about again. You see, several small independent movie houses are opening up in the city and they are going to serve you some pretty fancy fucking food while you watch Beginners or The Tree of Life or whatever pretentious indie bore-a-thon we're all into at the moment. At the new Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (where else! wherever else!), a Michelin-starred chef will prepare you a whole host of treats, from "deviled eggs with bacon bits" to "croquettes stuffed with Serrano ham." Mmm! Nothing like a nice plate of deviled eggs to get you in the movie-watching mood.

Several other gourmet cinemas are scheduled to open in New York soon, so this really is becoming a thing. But why? Well, domestic box office receipts have been somewhat steadily slipping for years now (while international grosses go through the roof), probably because we're all lazy, miserable Blubmericans who'd rather the Netflix people send the movietimes to our houses than actually get up off the Jennifer Convertible and go to the theater. So these theater owners hope that these fancy added incentives will actually get butts in their seats again. And they are maybe not wrong? About some people at least. Don't pull any of this croquette nonsense out in the hinterlands. No siree. But in New York? Yeah, sure. It'll probably work!

Though, maybe steer clear of quotes like this:

Since opening in June, the center has been showcasing specialty titles such as John Turturro's documentary about the music tradition of Naples, "Passione."

Uh. And this:

In June, the slightly down-at-the-heels Brooklyn Heights Cinema was sold to musician Kenn Lowy, whose ambitious plans include a regular silent-film series set to live music.

Not even horrible New York jerks like me will go to that! But otherwise, gourmet away. [WSJ; image via Shutterstock]